


Anecdotes from Inflorei Vis

by illusbal



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 15:50:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12987339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/illusbal/pseuds/illusbal
Summary: Once upon a time, in a land only known to dreams, existed a marvelous realm of magic and mystery. Five powerful witches, masters of their schools, influenced and protected the people with their wisdom and benevolence. The history of Inflorei Vis is vast and winding, tales woven from the lives of figures both vile and valiant. These records are merely a few of those stories.A collection of witch au writings.





	1. Thaumaturge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How deep people will dive for the sake of those they love.

      Rei crept towards his brother’s room with only the light of the cold moon to guide him. He wouldn’t be allowed in normally, not after his last attempt to cure Ritsu’s illness. This was his last, desperate chance, and it wrecked his nerves to know it. Quaking hands clutched book and knife and other things to his chest as he dodged from shadow to shadow, barely daring to breathe for fear of making too much noise. This plan had to work. If it worked on himself, it had to work for Ritsu.

      Only when he had fully shut and locked the door--agonizingly slowly, he knew how it squeaked--did he begin to relax. He scurried to his brother’s bedside, collapsing to his knees and pressing a gentle thumb to his cheek. “Ritsu...Ritsu, can you hear me?” His whisper nearly caught in his throat. Ritsu’s face was cool and damp to the touch, and Rei wondered if he was too late until he noticed his chest rise slightly. The breaths he took were too small and too long between, but he was still breathing.

      Ritsu had always been a fragile child, never quite able to keep up with others at play, and very prone to catching whatever bug had made its way around their neighborhood. Rei happily took on the role of caretaker, doting on his baby brother any way he could. In turn, Ritsu adored him completely, following him around like a duckling when their parents sent them on errands, Rei minding his pace to make sure he could keep up.

      The spring of Ritsu’s twelfth year was an unusually rainy one, and he came down with a persistent chest cold that later turned into a dreadful fever. Rei refused to leave his bedside, only moving out of the way when a doctor came to visit, but visit after visit did nothing to help Ritsu’s condition. They even brought in one of the church clerics, who could do no more than confirm it was an illness of the soul causing the deterioration of the body and pray for the young boy's recovery. Their mother was in hysterics, and their father was overwhelmed trying to balance keeping the household together with trying to find someone who would help their young son. Like a good big brother, Rei made sure Ritsu never felt bored, playing games and making up stories with him until the day came when even speaking was too exhausting for him.

      Rei became desperate, frantic, diving into research of old and forbidden magic, believing with his blossoming knack for witchery that he was the only one who could--and would--go to these lengths to save Ritsu. Any potential cure he found he tested on himself first, enduring and hiding whatever side effects they caused from his family. A few times he was nearly successful, at the point of actually trying these methods on Ritsu, but each time he was caught. Just three days prior Rei’s father had dragged him from his brother’s room, cursing and spitting and forbidding him to enter as long as he kept trying these wild experiments.

      But time was running out, and Rei was more certain than ever this would cure Ritsu. Centering himself with a shaky breath, he pressed a kiss to his brother’s sweat-soaked forehead and began the ritual as he had done hours before. The silence pressed in on Rei as he worked, pausing between murmurs of an incantation to listen for any sign of movement. With little hesitation, he drew the knife over the palm of his hand, biting his lip hard to keep from making a sound. Blood mingled with ash, turning from muddy red-brown to pitch black and far too cold, and Rei used his unmarred hand to open Ritsu’s mouth and drip the ichorous liquid inside.

      Minutes passed, maybe even hours, but Rei didn’t move an inch aside from the trembling of his hands. He watched each drop fall, clear as day though the room was dark, silently willing and begging for his brother to show any sign of change for the better. Something other than those infrequent, rattling breaths. “Please,” he croaked out a whisper, tears long held back running rivers down his face. “Please, Ritsu. Come back.”

      It was as if he was called. Ritsu’s eyes opened, just a sliver, and Rei only barely noticed by the flutter of his eyelashes. He held his breath, heart pounding, and watched as his brother blinked, took more and more air into his lungs, turned his head to look him in the eye. _Blood red_ , Rei noted. _Did I look like that now, too?_ He hadn’t bothered to check a mirror. It didn’t matter how different he looked, Ritsu was awake, Ritsu was _alive_. Laughing out a sob, Rei threw himself across his brother, holding him tight, not caring about the bloodstains from his hand on the quilt. “It worked, it actually worked, Ritsu, you’re going to be okay.”

      Weak hands found their way to clutch at the back of Rei’s shirt as Ritsu adjusted back to the waking world. He made a sound, voice caught in his throat from disuse, and coughed a few times before nuzzling into his brother’s neck. “What…” he forced words out, slurred and gravelly.

“What did… you do… to me.”


	2. Mercy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A life is saved, a connection is made, a fairy tale walks the earth.

      “There’s no way it won’t come back. We have to kill it.”

      “Can we kill it? This isn’t your run of the mill wolf.”

      “Most creatures die when you take off their head.”

      The conversation was barely audible over the roaring and growling from the beast caged in the center of a group of paladins. A small group of them had been tasked with figuring out who—or what—had been tearing through the village storehouses, but upon finding the culprit in their trap, it became the business of their whole unit. 

      Kaoru watched the wolf turn around, over and over, ramming its body into iron bars in an attempt to break free. He could tell it was frightened. He saw the whites of its eyes as it paced, tail low and thrashing, having nowhere safe to turn when surrounded. 

      Looking to his commander, he hesitated, but raised his voice anyway. “There’s no reason to just kill it, there haven’t been any attacks reported by citizens, just stolen food and damaged property.” Damn his bleeding heart. He could feel the stares of his comrades, some bewildered, some curious.

      “He’s got a point,” one of the older paladins, Nolan, spoke up. “None of the livestock either. Look at this bastard, it’s the size of a young horse with teeth long as cheese knives, we’d be able to tell by the corpses.”

      Thankful he wasn’t alone, Kaoru spoke again. “We can sedate it and release it deep in the forest, far away from town, it’ll have no reason to come back.”

      His squadmate Brea scowled at him. “How do you know that? What if it _does_ come back? What if it decides that our stores aren’t enough and starts picking off kids in the street? Would you really risk that?”

      A murmuring spread throughout the group of paladins. Kaoru opened his mouth to retort, but refrained. All he really had was a gut feeling and sympathy for the poor creature, not a convincing argument against that possible threat.

      “I can make sure he’ll stay.”

      A voice like velvet parted the crowd to show a finely dressed gentleman with a lace-edged parasol, looking very out of place among the gold and green garb of the church. He strode fluidly over to their captain and gave him a respectful nod. “I understand he’s your charge right now, yes? If you will allow me to take custody of him, I will personally make sure he won’t be a threat again.”

      The captain hesitated, eyeing the man, but eventually conceded. Kaoru could hardly believe the stubborn old man would listen to this mysterious stranger. The more he looked, the more familiar he seemed, and it was only when his bright red eyes met his own did he realize who it was. 

      The stranger closed his parasol with a click and presented the handle to Kaoru. “Hold this for me, would you please?” He asked with a smile. The bewildered paladin took it without question, looking after the man he had only heard about in legends and bedtime stories. 

      The Witch of the Wood. 

      The crowd was silent as the witch approached the caged wolf, whose wild eyes were fixed on him. He didn’t blink, staring the beast down even as it growled and advanced on him. He reached out with a gentle hand, jerking it back a bit as the wolf snapped at it through the bars, flicking saliva onto his waistcoat. 

      “Come now, doggie, don’t be a brute,” he muttered, sounding more like a parent scolding a child. Again he reached out, swiftly patting the wolf’s head. There was a gasp from the crowd, and several hands went to their sword hilts, but before the wolf could bite him its eyes fell closed and it slumped to the floor of the cage. 

      Kaoru nearly dropped the parasol at what he saw next. The astonished murmurs of the knights grew louder as the wolf began to change shape. Fur gave way to skin as the beast took the shape of a young boy, long-haired and haggard, collapsed in a heap. 

      “Could you open the trap, please?” The witch asked, as if he hadn’t just performed an unseen feat of magic. The captain startled, then fumbled with his keys and unlocked the cage, quickly moving out of his way. Sweeping off his cloak, the witch gently bundled the unconscious child and lifted him in his arms with a small grunt. “Now then, lad, if you could just hook that on my arm…?”

      It took a moment before Kaoru realized the witch was talking to him. Sputtering, he did as he was asked, relinquishing the parasol, earning a charming wink in return. “I, ah…” he started, unsure of how to address a fairy tale come to life. “Thank you, for your help…”

      A smile that could sway armies spread across the strange gentleman’s face. “It was my pleasure,” he lilted, tipped a polite nod to the captain, and walked off in the direction he had come from.    
  
  
  
  



End file.
